statisticstimes

List of Indian states by population

Source 2011 - Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
2023 - Report Of The Technical Group On Population Proiecttons (page no 44)
Date01 Dec 2023

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India with estimated population of 23.57 crores in 2023. Uttar Pradesh accounts for 17.95% of the total country population. Bihar has overtaken Maharashtra as the second largest state by population with close to 127 million people living here. Three states have population more than 10 crore. 19 states and two union territory have a population of over 1 cr. Delhi (21,359,000) is the largest union territory in India in terms of population.

Almost half of the country's population lives in the five highest populous states, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. Ten most populated states of India contribute 74% of India's population. 12 least populous states/UTs contribute only 1 % of India population and 21 lowest constitute only 10 % of the total.

Population of the biggest state Uttar Pradesh is close to the population of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world. Population of 2nd ranked Bihar and 3rd ranked Maharashtra are equivalent to Ethiopia. Seven states have population more than 20th ranked country of the world. 16 states comes under top 50 countries.

Sikkim (689,000) is the smallest state and Lakshadweep (69,000) is the smallest union territory in India on the basis of population.

Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu has the highest population growth rate during 2011-2023 of 115.18% followed by Puducherry and Delhi. Among states, Bihar has the highest population growth rate during 2011-2023 of 21.76% followed by Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

Indian states by population
Rank State/UT Population Growth (2023-2011) Share (%) Country W rank
20232011Absolute%2023
NCT Delhi 21,359,000 16,787,941 4,571,059 27.23 1.54 Malawi 62
17 Haryana 30,209,000 25,351,462 4,857,538 19.16 2.18 Madagascar 51
14 Kerala 35,776,000 33,406,061 2,369,939 7.09 2.58 Uzbekistan 43
20 Himachal Pradesh 7,468,000 6,864,602 603,398 8.79 0.54 China, Hong Kong SAR 105
16 Punjab 30,730,000 27,743,338 2,986,662 10.77 2.21 Nepal 50
13 Telangana 38,090,000 35,004,000 3,086,000 8.82 2.74 Morocco 39
25 Goa 1,575,000 1,458,545 116,455 7.98 0.11 Trinidad and Tobago 154
19 Uttarakhand 11,637,000 10,086,292 1,550,708 15.37 0.84 Belgium 83
UT4 Chandigarh 1,231,000 1,055,450 175,550 16.63 0.09 Eswatini 160
8 Gujarat 71,507,000 60,439,692 11,067,308 18.31 5.15 Thailand 21
UT7 Lakshadweep 69,000 64,473 4,527 7.02 0.00 Cayman Islands 207
UT3 Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 1,263,000 586,956 676,044 115.18 0.09 Cyprus 159
7 Tamil Nadu 76,860,000 72,147,030 4,712,970 6.53 5.54 Thailand 20
18 Chhattisgarh 30,180,000 25,545,198 4,634,802 18.14 2.17 Madagascar 51
UT5 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 403,000 380,581 22,419 5.89 0.03 Guadeloupe 179
3 Maharashtra 126,385,000 112,374,333 14,010,667 12.47 9.10 Ethiopia 12
9 Karnataka 67,692,000 61,095,297 6,596,703 10.80 4.88 United Kingdom 22
4 West Bengal 99,084,000 91,276,115 7,807,885 8.55 7.14 Viet Nam 16
11 Odisha 46,276,000 41,974,218 4,301,782 10.25 3.33 Argentina 33
UT2 Puducherry 1,646,000 1,247,953 398,047 31.90 0.12 Kosovo (under UNSC res. 1244) 154
10 Andhra Pradesh 53,156,000 49,576,777 3,579,223 7.22 3.83 Colombia 28
12 Jharkhand 39,466,000 32,988,134 6,477,866 19.64 2.84 Canada 38
27 Mizoram 1,238,000 1,097,206 140,794 12.83 0.09 Cyprus 160
21 Tripura 4,147,000 3,673,917 473,083 12.88 0.30 Croatia 130
5 Madhya Pradesh 86,579,000 72,626,809 13,952,191 19.21 6.24 Türkiye 18
1 Uttar Pradesh 235,687,000 199,812,341 35,874,659 17.95 16.98 Pakistan 6
6 Rajasthan 81,025,000 68,548,437 12,476,563 18.20 5.84 Germany 20
28 Sikkim 689,000 610,577 78,423 12.84 0.05 China, Macao SAR 169
2 Bihar 126,756,000 104,099,452 22,656,548 21.76 9.13 Ethiopia 11
23 Manipur 3,223,000 2,855,794 367,206 12.86 0.23 Bosnia and Herzegovina 137
26 Arunachal Pradesh 1,562,000 1,383,727 178,273 12.88 0.11 Trinidad and Tobago 154
UT1 Jammu & Kashmir 13,603,000 12,258,433 1,344,567 10.97 0.98 Benin 78
UT6 Ladakh 300,000 290,492 9,508 3.27 0.02 New Caledonia 186
24 Nagaland 2,233,000 1,978,502 254,498 12.86 0.16 Guinea-Bissau 148
22 Meghalaya 3,349,000 2,966,889 382,111 12.88 0.24 Uruguay 136
15 Assam 35,713,000 31,205,576 4,507,424 14.44 2.57 Uzbekistan 43
India 1,388,163,000 1,210,854,977 177,308,023 14.64 1002